Hopefully it part of a good plan to improve race strategy this season. Last season was the most painful I've ever watched and made me realize how much I've taken for granted Kimi's top-flight teams in the past. Here's to no more losing 20 positions in one lap when tires expire and no more finishing races with 20 laps left in first set of fast compound after spending 90% of race on slow compound.

, Simon Rennie had a cool voice. I hope this is due to positive reasons (Kimi and his team thinking they can work better this way) rather than negative (manpower cutting, or for the sake of 2ms: not the evil doing of Boullier )

, Simon Rennie had a cool voice. I hope this is due to positive reasons (Kimi and his team thinking they can work better this way) rather than negative (manpower cutting, or for the sake of 2ms: not the evil doing of Boullier )

He did have a nice clear tone that was easy to listen to!!, even though he tended to repeat himself, He was from Coventry here in the UK, His name initially made me think he might have been French, until of course i heard him speak

Anyway, if Kimi did play some part in the decision it might be a sign of him beginning to shape the team, I dare say he's more than comfortable with Slade, and it seems he likes continuity, Mark Arnall has been with him for donkeys years.

I dont like thisSlade is a disaster when it comes to strategy. We saw that in the beginning of the year when he was guiding Kimi in races. Rennie took over as race engineer in Germany (while Slade was working with the car) and things clearly improved since then. Not happy about this development at all.

I dont like thisSlade is a disaster when it comes to strategy. We saw that in the beginning of the year when he was guiding Kimi in races. Rennie took over as race engineer in Germany (while Slade was working with the car) and things clearly improved since then. Not happy about this development at all.

Crap, really? I was wondering why things got less nightmarish. What a disaster. For 9 months I've been praying that they would get a better strategy guy on him -- that it would be the single most valuable upgrade they could make in terms of points-per-dollar/pound/euro spent.

I can't believe they're simply going to go backwards. Allison wouldn't permit that. Surely they must be getting someone new who they think will be good rather than simply going backwards.

If Im not mistaken, Rennie's the man who engineered Alonso in 05 and 06 and then Kubica after. Mark Slade's the guy who got dropped from McL after failure with Kovalainen and thereafter engineered Petrov at Renault. I suppose they'll be giving Grosjean Rennie.

If Im not mistaken, Rennie's the man who engineered Alonso in 05 and 06 and then Kubica after. Mark Slade's the guy who got dropped from McL after failure with Kovalainen and thereafter engineered Petrov at Renault. I suppose they'll be giving Grosjean Rennie.

or if you didn't always want to highlight the negative part regarding Kimi, you could say that Mark Slade is the only person in the team who was requested by Kimi, because they worked well together in the mclaren days.

Yep. There are few plans made PRE qualifications. Then after qualifications they decide about these plans if they are still possible, if nt they change a bit. Then in race they have prepare few plans depending on situation (like trying 1 stopper, 2 stopper, driving on one rubber lesser than on the other). Race engineers are there to change strategy if something unexpected happens, like rain, collision, safety car, want to undercut someone etc. But these calls are also decided by more than 1 person.

^ I don't understand why Kulta mentions so much about those radio comments even though there does not seem to be any direct connection. I think this is a loss for Lotus. Simon Rennie is a bright and up-coming engineer who was of great value to Lotus/Kimi. Slade has been great in the past. But I think he has become a blunt over the years and isn't as sharp as needed for modern F1. He would be an excellent 'personal engineer' to Kimi. But I think Lotus needs to put a younger up to-date engineer to Kimi alongside Slade.

Vesuvius, do you have any specific additional information on this? Rennie has been a much more successful engineer in his career and in a shorter period of time. He was Renault's top driver engineer going back to the multi-WDCs whereas Slade was the guy for Petrov. And race strategy was poor early in the season before we started hearing about Rennie getting involved on Kimi side. It's counter-intuitive that a team would willfully lose their most proven excellent race engineer particularly at a time where race engineering would appear to benefit from proven winners/be a weak area.

Vesuvius, do you have any specific additional information on this? Rennie has been a much more successful engineer in his career and in a shorter period of time. He was Renault's top driver engineer going back to the multi-WDCs whereas Slade was the guy for Petrov. And race strategy was poor early in the season before we started hearing about Rennie getting involved on Kimi side. It's counter-intuitive that a team would willfully lose their most proven excellent race engineer particularly at a time where race engineering would appear to benefit from proven winners/be a weak area.

Not anymore than that Kimi wanted and still wants to have Slade as his engineer and was very happy with him this year, Slade made all the tactics for him this season, Rennie mainly only told to Kimi what was needed to know while Slade worked on more important things. Remember Slade was also Häkkinen's engineer (two titles,1 silver) Alonso's engineer (bronze), Kovalainen's engineer (race win) and then less succesfull with Schumacher and Petrov. But who knows if there will be another engineer to take Rennie's place on Kimi's radio.

If Im not mistaken, Rennie's the man who engineered Alonso in 05 and 06 and then Kubica after. Mark Slade's the guy who got dropped from McL after failure with Kovalainen and thereafter engineered Petrov at Renault. I suppose they'll be giving Grosjean Rennie.

Nope, he was Alonso's data engineer in 05, 06 and 08 then his race engineer is 09. Rod Nelson was Fernando's engineer is 05/06.

Not anymore than that Kimi wanted and still wants to have Slade as his engineer and was very happy with him this year, Slade made all the tactics for him this season, Rennie mainly only told to Kimi what was needed to know while Slade worked on more important things. Remember Slade was also Häkkinen's engineer (two titles,1 silver) Alonso's engineer (bronze), Kovalainen's engineer (race win) and then less succesfull with Schumacher and Petrov. But who knows if there will be another engineer to take Rennie's place on Kimi's radio.

That's not quite true. Slade has been let go as race engineer three times in the past 4 years (McLaren, Mercedes and Renault). Simon Rennie was the race engineer of Kubica, and Lotus insisted Rennie be with Kimi in addition to Slade. Slade was like a personal engineer to Kimi, and Rennie was the thorough-bred Lotus engineer. Tomorrow if Kimi leaves Lotus, Slade won't be there anymore. That should be enough to conclude on the current capabilities of Rennie and Slade.

^ Why was he let go by McLaren, Mercedes and Renault in 4 years? Engineers normally don't get fired for drivers' performances. Let us be very clear. Slade is in F1 only because of one reason - his understanding of Kimi and Kimi's way of working. He was out of F1 and Kimi brought him in. He has had a glorious past. But right now, he is a personal engineer and he is past it as far as being a modern race engineer. There is nothing wrong with it. People have long distinguished careers and then go on to take less-demanding coach/consultant type role where their extra-ordinary skills are still used to the maximum. There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade.

^ I don't understand why Kulta mentions so much about those radio comments even though there does not seem to be any direct connection. I think this is a loss for Lotus. Simon Rennie is a bright and up-coming engineer who was of great value to Lotus/Kimi. Slade has been great in the past. But I think he has become a blunt over the years and isn't as sharp as needed for modern F1. He would be an excellent 'personal engineer' to Kimi. But I think Lotus needs to put a younger up to-date engineer to Kimi alongside Slade.

^ Why was he let go by McLaren, Mercedes and Renault in 4 years? Engineers normally don't get fired for drivers' performances. Let us be very clear. Slade is in F1 only because of one reason - his understanding of Kimi and Kimi's way of working. He was out of F1 and Kimi brought him in. He has had a glorious past. But right now, he is a personal engineer and he is past it as far as being a modern race engineer. There is nothing wrong with it. People have long distinguished careers and then go on to take less-demanding coach/consultant type role where their extra-ordinary skills are still used to the maximum. There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade.

Just as there is probably a reason why he left, a reason you nor most likely anyone on this board knows very much about, Kulta though may just know more than most, as for Slade being "past it", Kimi Raikkonen obviously doesn't think so, and i'd say he's eminently more qualified than you to judge.

^ Why was he let go by McLaren, Mercedes and Renault in 4 years? Engineers normally don't get fired for drivers' performances. Let us be very clear. Slade is in F1 only because of one reason - his understanding of Kimi and Kimi's way of working. He was out of F1 and Kimi brought him in. He has had a glorious past. But right now, he is a personal engineer and he is past it as far as being a modern race engineer. There is nothing wrong with it. People have long distinguished careers and then go on to take less-demanding coach/consultant type role where their extra-ordinary skills are still used to the maximum. There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade.

well tell that to Luca Baldisseri and Chris Dyer Kimi wanted Slade already with him to Ferrari but Ferrari didn't want this. Slade did very well this year as a Kimi's race engineer, Rennie was only Kimi's second race engineer and his job was to help Slade and talk to Kimi in radio (not much talk needed there and Slade even warned before Abu Dhabi gp that leave Kimi alone but Rennie didn't as we know). You talk about coach/consultant type of role but it was that for Rennie, it was Slade who did most and will do next year as well as Kimi himself said :“I wanted him (Slade). There was of course many things that had to be sorted out so that could happen. I’m glad he managed to get away. I have a good race engineer now (Rennie) as well but I wanted Mark because I know him and he knows what I want.”“He has worked here before so it will probably to be easier to start with him in a new team since he already has knowledge about it.”

It doesn't matter. If Kimi wants Slade, then I can assure u, that even if Lotus don't like idea very much, they will do it for him. Especially if Kimi will talk with Lopez (afaik they have pretty good contact).

^ Why was he let go by McLaren, Mercedes and Renault in 4 years? Engineers normally don't get fired for drivers' performances. Let us be very clear. Slade is in F1 only because of one reason - his understanding of Kimi and Kimi's way of working. He was out of F1 and Kimi brought him in. He has had a glorious past. But right now, he is a personal engineer and he is past it as far as being a modern race engineer. There is nothing wrong with it. People have long distinguished careers and then go on to take less-demanding coach/consultant type role where their extra-ordinary skills are still used to the maximum. There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade.

I did some digging. Mclaren apparently wanted to clean the slate a bit with Button coming to the team and that's why Slade was let go and he went to Renault.http://www.auto123.c...lt?artid=115621

Petrov says that Slade is a good engineer, but the relationship just didn't work for him and that's why he switched engineers:

“In 2010, I had some problems with my team, fighting with Mark Slade. He’s a very clever engineer, but it was not a good relationship. They put him up high because he had 20 years of experience and you are the child. If he told you to jump through a window, you must jump through a window,” said Petrov to Autosport.

“I respected him and listened to him all the time and jumped when he said. But I did the wrong thing. I had my feelings and I should have been more aggressive, but I was afraid I would say something wrong,” added Petrov.

Then Schumacher took him, but apparently was not satisfied as he was replaced after just 11 races. I don't know if Slade would have called it a day for his F1 race engineer career there if it wasn't for Kimi calling for him to be brought back. Maybe, but I feel like he would have likely found a place at least in a mid-field team with the kind of CV he has if he wanted to. In any case, if Räikkönen is satisfied with him, he's not past it.

^ Why was he let go by McLaren, Mercedes and Renault in 4 years? Engineers normally don't get fired for drivers' performances. Let us be very clear. Slade is in F1 only because of one reason - his understanding of Kimi and Kimi's way of working. He was out of F1 and Kimi brought him in. He has had a glorious past. But right now, he is a personal engineer and he is past it as far as being a modern race engineer. There is nothing wrong with it. People have long distinguished careers and then go on to take less-demanding coach/consultant type role where their extra-ordinary skills are still used to the maximum. There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade.

There may be something in this. But I don't see how an engineer can be "past it". He should quite quickly be able to pickup an understanding of the new stuff. It's possible that he errs too much towards leaving drivers alone instead of babysitting them through every lap, which seems to be fashionable these days. I'd suggest this may be the reason he wasn't particularly desired by the three teams - not great at communicating stuff to the driver. I can see how Michael may have been unimpressed with that. It would have counted as a strength with Mika and Kimi though.

There may be something in this. But I don't see how an engineer can be "past it". He should quite quickly be able to pickup an understanding of the new stuff. It's possible that he errs too much towards leaving drivers alone instead of babysitting them through every lap, which seems to be fashionable these days. I'd suggest this may be the reason he wasn't particularly desired by the three teams - not great at communicating stuff to the driver. I can see how Michael may have been unimpressed with that. It would have counted as a strength with Mika and Kimi though.

Totally agree that not everyone can build up a working relationship with new engineers and vice versa. Many people out here think Kimi is Stupid.

At Ferrari, Kimi wanted to get Slade but was refused by the management. And as can be ascertained, both Ferrari engineers assigned to Kimi failed to understand/provide for/look after Kimi's needs regarding the car and working enviornment he wished for. Kimi kept saying his "new" suspension is crap, but dyer/stella was not strong enough to stand up and fight for the revert in Suspension... Leaving Kimi to go directly to Luca in person. Now what the hell Luca knows about tech stuff apart from wanting 3 cars per team.

After being an expert on how shit Kimi is until proven wrong, now it is the turn of Kimi's engineer to bear the brunt of the forum expertise on how shit he is!! Seriously!

Lest we forget, Kimi really knows what he is doing. If he wants Slade, it is because he wants a team of confidante & faithful competent people like Arnall, Slade & Robertsons to take on the F1 Politics that seriously affect his performance on track.

Kimi has learnt from Ferrari cheap trips... And who can forget Boullier stating Grosjean mental state was more important than a Race win for Lotus in 3 years in Bahrain.

I liked seeing Rennie in Kimi's Photos during the season myself... But if he is gone, then thats his & Lotus managments prerogative. Kimi would not be happy about this dev himself, as he is generally very sympathetic towards his team his side of the garage.

Kimi even told Ron Dennis once that he "cannot" fire one of his mechanics because a mistake had been made, and to leave his team alone.

Just as there is probably a reason why he left, a reason you nor most likely anyone on this board knows very much about, Kulta though may just know more than most,

Who said Kulta does not know more?

as for Slade being "past it", Kimi Raikkonen obviously doesn't think so, and i'd say he's eminently more qualified than you to judge.

Again getting wound up too much and seeing things that are not there. Who said again that Kimi does not know more? There is a reason why Rennie was asked to join Slade. Instead of taking offense to everything, see things objectively.

well tell that to Luca Baldisseri and Chris Dyer .. Rennie was only Kimi's second race engineer and his job was to help Slade ..

Did you just make this up?

..In any case, if Räikkönen is satisfied with him, he's not past it.

If Raikkonen wanted him it means Slade would be of huge help him. It is not the same as he is the best race engineer currently in F1 and he is the only one in Lotus good enough to work with him. There is a difference.

There may be something in this. But I don't see how an engineer can be "past it". He should quite quickly be able to pickup an understanding of the new stuff. It's possible that he errs too much towards leaving drivers alone instead of babysitting them through every lap, which seems to be fashionable these days. I'd suggest this may be the reason he wasn't particularly desired by the three teams - not great at communicating stuff to the driver. I can see how Michael may have been unimpressed with that. It would have counted as a strength with Mika and Kimi though.

I don't know the exact reason. But have you seen someone remain a race engineer for 15 years? It is nothing new that with changing times old guards may not be best equipped for the job the same. It happens in lot of field. Have you seen someone stay as Project Leader or Staff Engineer in a company for a long long time. People keep moving. Lot of things change with time. I don't think F1 is the same as it was in 1998. A F1 race engineer's work and duties could change a lot over time - simulation, new part optimization, advances in computation, strategy modernization, etc. So many things change with time.

If Raikkonen wanted him it means Slade would be of huge help him. It is not the same as he is the best race engineer currently in F1 and he is the only one in Lotus good enough to work with him. There is a difference.

Race strategy was very 2nd rate last season, most glaringly so in the first half or so. Does anyone know who was responsible for those strategies vs who was responsible for any good strategies they had?

I really dont know how y'all rate race engineers. They do a hell of a lot more than we realize, I think and its very, very difficult to know how good one is without being there in the team. People can try and piece things together to form an opinion, but it seems like lots of stabs in the dark still.

This is the guy telling people to see things objectively, the guy saying that someone he has very little knowledge of is "past it".

I agree with you, if this is Kimi's choice, to keep Slade, and we dont know if it is his choice, then he's probably the best man for the job in Kimi's eyes, and its highly unlikely that Kimi thinks Slade is "past it".

ETA: Btw, "But have you seen someone remain a race engineer for 15 years?"

Just as there is probably a reason why he left, a reason you nor most likely anyone on this board knows very much about, Kulta though may just know more than most, ..

Just as i never got "wound up" and took "offense"

Quite apparent with such long replies to a single person, isn't it? You obviously can't digest the fact that I say Simon Rennie is very good and Slade may not be as good with modern F1.

This is the guy telling people to see things objectively, the guy saying that someone he has very little knowledge of is "past it".

Yes, that is absolutely an objective comment. Slade has been let go by three teams in 4 years. That is a clear indication of he is being rated. As I said, the only reason Slade is in F1 is because of his understanding of Kimi.

I agree with you, if this is Kimi's choice, to keep Slade, and we dont know if it is his choice, then he's probably the best man for the job in Kimi's eyes, and its highly unlikely that Kimi thinks Slade is "past it".

It is not like it is only Slade or somebody different. As seen from the past year, it can be two engineers together for Kimi. That was very sensible by Lotus I thought. Getting the best of both for Kimi. As a Kimi fan, I want the best for him. I conclude things objectively from how these two engineers have been rated recently. I am not getting carried away by my liking for Slade based on his past association with Kimi. I rate him quite highly for Kimi in that respect. I think Kimi should take him with whichever team he goes as his personal engineer just like he does with Arnall.

ETA: Btw, "But have you seen someone remain a race engineer for 15 years?"

Yes, Jock Clear.

I know you would come up with this name. May be I should have asked "how many". That is 1 out of 200 or so. My point on this stands.

Quite apparent with such long replies to a single person, isn't it? You obviously can't digest the fact that I say Simon Rennie is very good and Slade may not be as good with modern F1.

Yes, that is absolutely an objective comment. Slade has been let go by three teams in 4 years. That is a clear indication of he is being rated. As I said, the only reason Slade is in F1 is because of his understanding of Kimi.

It is not like it is only Slade or somebody different. As seen from the past year, it can be two engineers together for Kimi. That was very sensible by Lotus I thought. Getting the best of both for Kimi. As a Kimi fan, I want the best for him. I conclude things objectively from how these two engineers have been rated recently. I am not getting carried away by my liking for Slade based on his past association with Kimi. I rate him quite highly for Kimi in that respect. I think Kimi should take him with whichever team he goes as his personal engineer just like he does with Arnall.

I know you would come up with this name. May be I should have asked "how many". That is 1 out of 200 or so. My point on this stands.

"Just as there is probably a reason why he left, a reason you nor most likely anyone on this board knows very much about, Kulta though may just know more than most, .."

Does not equate to me saying Kulta didn't know more than most, I suggested that he might, read it again, realise your error.

I didn't get wound up, nor took offence, I cant be responsible for whats apparent to you, after all, according to you Slade is past it, seems like you're the only one who holds that view, so whats "apparent" to you, is meaningless.

Oh you knew i would come up with the name Jock Clear!!, pity it wasn't so apparent that you didn't mention him yourself then

You asked if someone had remained a race engineer for 15 years, dont try and move the goalposts when someone answers your questions.

Whats apparent, plainly, is that you're not as well informed as you like to pretend, and your opinions, as with my own and everyone else's opinions, are certainly no more valid than any other poster on here.

^ I don't understand why Kulta mentions so much about those radio comments even though there does not seem to be any direct connection. I think this is a loss for Lotus. Simon Rennie is a bright and up-coming engineer who was of great value to Lotus/Kimi. Slade has been great in the past. But I think he has become a blunt over the years and isn't as sharp as needed for modern F1. He would be an excellent 'personal engineer' to Kimi. But I think Lotus needs to put a younger up to-date engineer to Kimi alongside Slade.

Well, actually there might be a connection. I don't think there was a fallout, but there's definitely a difference in opinion between Rennie and Slade. One believes he needs to feed the driver every information he himself deems important, while Slade likes to listen a bit more to the driver's needs. Slade and Kimi speak the same language and apparently tuned into each other. This kind of trust and understanding helps a lot in work, because they can bring up the best from each other. Back in his "glory days" in McLaren Kimi had that kind of rapport with his mechanics and engineers, and I think he needs to build it again if he wants to maximise his potential. This doesn't necessarily mean that Rennie is not a great engineer. Sucess comes from the harmony of many aspects (car, driver, strategy, teamwork etc). Sometimes a driver appears brilliant in a set of circumstances while clearly struggles in another.

^ Kimi himself said radio instructions are no big deal. He acknowledged they are only trying to help him, and even made a joke out of it printing t-shirts. There is no evidence to suggest that Rennie was replaced for those radio comments, let alone it was Lotus who replaced Rennie instead of Rennie leaving Lotus.

"Just as there is probably a reason why he left, a reason you nor most likely anyone on this board knows very much about, Kulta though may just know more than most, .."

Does not equate to me saying Kulta didn't know more than most, I suggested that he might, read it again, realise your error.

You said Kulta may know more than most to my comments. I did not say Kulta does not know more than me. What is so confusing to understand in this?

I didn't get wound up, nor took offence, I cant be responsible for whats apparent to you, after all, according to you Slade is past it, seems like you're the only one who holds that view, so whats "apparent" to you, is meaningless.

Whatever that means.

It seems if I point out that Slade has been let go by 3 teams in 4 years, it does not go well with some Kimi fans. Good luck.. Rennie may be a very good engineer, and his leaving Kimi is not a slight on him.

^ Kimi himself said radio instructions are no big deal. He acknowledged they are only trying to help him, and even made a joke out of it printing t-shirts. There is no evidence to suggest that Rennie was replaced for those radio comments, let alone it was Lotus who replaced Rennie instead of Rennie leaving Lotus.

You said Kulta may know more than most to my comments. I did not say Kulta does not know more than me. What is so confusing to understand in this?

Whatever that means.

It seems if I point out that Slade has been let go by 3 teams in 4 years, it does not go well with some Kimi fans. Good luck.. Rennie may be a very good engineer, and his leaving Kimi is not a slight on him.

Or maybe implying that the guy is not good enough without proof does ruffles some feathers. I don't know why he left McLaren. From what we know about their personalities and work methods, I'm a bit surprised he was paired up with Schumacher in the first place. As far as I know he currently works for the third team again.

I didn't say Rennie was replaced because of those radio comments. However he doesn't agree with Kimi's other engineer on how to handle things, and that doesn't help working together effectively. So there MIGHT be a connection, but that doesn't mean it caused by that. Maybe he himself wanted a change. For all we know he got a better job elsewhere.

I'll just say that contrary to SpaMaster's view, I think that the fact that Slade is one of the few people to still be around after more than a 15-year-long career means that he's one of the best. You can think whatever you want.

Now, I don't know whose fault it was that some of Kimi's strategies especially in the early part of the season weren't all that great, but no driver has the perfect strategy every time.